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Education Game Development Contest for Collegiate Programmers

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the edutainment-beyond-bdp dept.

Stealthgirl writes "Check out Hidden Agenda, a game development contest with a twist. College students are challenged to build entertaining games that 'secretly' teach middle school subjects. The contest focuses on 'stealth education' in gaming, pushing students to create primarily entertaining games that also teach topics such as forces, statistics, or the solar system. Students have complete freedom in their game designs. They can work in teams of up to 8 people, build games on and for any platform, and use existing engines. Games will be judged in May, with 5 finalist teams flying to Austin to present in front of game legends such as Richard Garriott for their final shot at the $25,000 prize. While all submitted games must fulfill teaching requirements to be considered, final judging is based on 70% entertainment and 30% educational value."

5 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. Read the fine print. by ScorpiusFan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hmmm. I think if you do manage to get a college-level team to come up with an excellent "stealth-education" game or prototype, the team would do better off marketing the game themselves.

    Note in exchange for $25,000 that in the fine print:

    3. OWNERSHIP OF ENTRIES:
    AS A CONDITION OF ENTERING THE CONTEST, AND TO THE EXTENT LEGALLY PERMISSIBLE, ALL ENTRY FORMS, GAME ENTRIES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE CONTENT, AND ALL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS THEREIN WILL BE OWNED EXCLUSIVELY BY THE FOUNDATION. EACH ENTRANT WILL BE REQUIRED TO ASSIGN ALL OWNERSHIP OF A GAME IDEA AND THE GAME ENTRY, AND ALL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THAT GAME IDEA AND GAME ENTRY, TO THE FOUNDATION IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEST.

    IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE WORK ON YOUR GAME IDEA AFTER THE CONTEST, OR WANT OR HOPE TO SELL IT TO A THIRD PARTY SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, DO NOT ENTER YOUR GAME IDEA INTO THIS CONTEST."

    This means the foundation will own _all_ of the game entries, and can take any of the gaming prototypes and use them as they see fit. Sounds like they win and everyone else loses for a mere $25,000.

    This could be the main reason why this contest is not open to non-college students, such as unemployed game developers. Perhaps it's easier to exploit the enthusiasm of college kids who may not have any idea how much money their fresh ideas could be worth.

  2. Ownership by tessaiga · · Score: 2, Insightful
    From the Sponsoring A Contest As Game Development department:
    Each entrant will be required to assign all ownership of a game idea and the game entry, and all intellectual property rights in that game idea and game entry, to the Foundation in order to be eligible for participation in the contest.

    If you want to continue work on your game idea after the contest, or want or hope to sell it to a third party sometime in the future, do not enter your game idea into this contest.

    $25,000 as an R&D/development cost in return for a large bunch of new games is a pretty good deal for the organizers. It's not as good a deal for the participants, particularly for the vast majority who won't win, and yet have signed away all rights to their game. In the interests of fairness, contests like this really should only be allowed to take your game publishing rights if you're a winner.

    (Retyping the rules by hand was fun. Why does Slashdot have an ALL CAPS checker and not a spellchecker?)

    --
    The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away ...
  3. Still not a bad deal... by Stealthgirl · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you're a college student who is sure your idea is worth zillions, don't enter. But chances are, it's not. This contest is still a good deal for college students because

    A) $25K is still the most a college game dev contest has ever offered
    B) They get to present their ideas to top gamers like Garriott (and they are adding more)
    C) They even might be able to get college credit for it.
    D) Their final entry will probably be a great addition to their resume and help them get a job when they graduate.
    E) it's put on by a nonprofit educational foundation -- they aren't exactly out to screw college students.

    1. Re:Still not a bad deal... by ScorpiusFan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Those are good points, but keep in mind that $25,000 would be split between the team members, and with three or four people that average $7,000 each before taxes.

      Also, there is no guarantee that Garriott will judge the entries. He's on as a board member/sponsor, and he may even be receiving a fee for having his name associated with the contest. He's no stranger to advertising, as I saw him in a magazine Merryl Lynch ad a few years ago, right before Ulitma 9 was released.

      I think a better plan for the college teams is to build their game prototype, get a copyright on their materials or ideas, and then pitch the game to publishers, distributors, and educators.

      They could even sell the game themselves to a local system, and use that success to attract the attention of a major publisher. Marketing a game on your own is difficult, but it's not impossible, especially if it's a quality product.

      The $25,000 price can still stand, but I think the authors should get some type of royalty if their game content is used to make a professional product, which appears to be the goal of this foundation. The same royalty arrangement should be available to all entrants, regardless if their game wins or not.

      Also, if this nonprofit foundation decides to disband, who would retain ownership of the game content? I don't think the students would automatically get their ownership back, which means someone could still profit from their ideas.

  4. How about.... by evilty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How about games that teach people to think constructively rather than trying to accommodate the standardized curriculum of memorizing crap that state and local governments institute in schools? From what I've seen of "educational" games the developers are always having to stretch themselves to try and incorporate the mundaneness of multiplication tables or historical facts and figures. I would see games which explore the process of learning and open peoples minds to the ideas which have shaped our society as much more valuable than 70% entertainment 30% boring. After all, what do we walk away from middle school with more than a broad understanding of a few topics and a general feeling of dislike for the institution we attended.

    I guess something is better than nothing, at least some people are considering games as proper educational tools where you don't have to be bored to death to learn about a few good ideas.